(Noah)
Later that evening I came off the elevator and she was right there.
Not in her apartment. Not behind a closed door. Standing in the hallway with her keys in her hand and her work bag on her shoulder, clearly just back, clearly not expecting anyone to be coming off the elevator at exactly this moment.
We both stopped.
For a second neither of us said anything. The distance between us was maybe four feet and the hallway was narrow enough that four feet was not much.
She recovered first the way she always did. Her face went to its default, composed and unreadable, and she turned toward her door.
"Reese."
"I'm tired, Noah," she said without turning around.
"I know."
"Then let me go inside."
"In a minute."
She turned around then because she was not someone who took direction wi
